ITV (LON:ITV) saw pre-tax profits rise over the last year, despite economic “uncertainty” beginning to impact advertising revenues.
The British broadcaster noted that underlying pre-tax profit was marginally up, from £843 million to £847 million boosted by strong reception if its studio productions.
Building upon Downton Abbey’s success, programmes such as Victoria and Podark have increasingly garnered an international audience. Revenue relating to its studios rose 13 per cent to £1.4 billion.
However, the channel warned of the challenging climate of economic uncertainty, which has already impacted advertising revenue. Across the period, advertising revenue fell 3 percent to £1.7 billion, nevertheless this figure proved ahead of the general market. Traditional television services have increasingly been feeling the impact of the proliferation of online streaming services such as Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN).
Chief Executive Adam Crozier remained optimistic, commented on ITV profits and peformance:
“ITV delivered a good performance in 2016 as we continue our strategy of rebalancing and strengthening the business creatively, commercially and financially. “
-
2017 Outlook
In terms of outlook for 2017, ITV remained positive that the broadcaster would continue to adapt to the changing media climate. The company said it will look to continuing to diversify revenue streams and to develop its profitable shows.
Mr Crozier said:
“Looking forward to 2017, ITV Studios will return to good organic revenue growth. As we previously stated, increased investment in US scripted content including Somewhere Between, The Good Witch, Sun Records and Snowpiercer, along with the reversal of the one-off benefit of The Voice of China in 2016, means that ITV Studios profits in 2017 are likely to be broadly in line with 2016.”
In addition, earnings per share rose three per cent to 17p, alongside a substantial ordinary dividend rise of 20 per cent to 7.2p per share, and an additional a 5p per share special dividend.
Shares in ITV are currently up 1.73 percent as of 10.44AM (GMT).